in april reflecting hiring of temporary workers since 2010. it was unchanged in other areas. but then transportation, it fell in courier and messenger services. the error other changes in unemployment. from a measure of -- a survey of households, the numbers of unemployed persons was 15.3 million. over the months, the labor force rose. in april, 6.7 million had been jobless for 27 weeks or more. it made up a record high of unemployed persons. the labor force for to the patient rate to the percent of the population looking for work rose to over 60%.

that was since december. . were 9.2 million individuals working part-time in april who prefer full-time work. that is about the same as march. in summary, employment rose by 21 90,000 in april, with gains in several major industries. by 291,000 in april, with gains in several major industrs. we would be happy to answer questions. >> what are the brightest spots in this month's report? another are a number of bright spots. -- >> there are a number of bright spots. the private sectorain was a large gain -- the biggest gain in about four yes. the trend has been encouraging. every month this year, we have had job gains.

we have had 573,000 jobs added so far this year. growth was also defused -- it was widespread. we have something called the diffion industry, looking of the industries they gained and lost jobs. it looks a very detailed industries. nearly 2/3 gained jobs this month period to give you a perspeive on that, in march, 2009, only about 15% of those industries gained jobs, so that is a significant improvement. manufacturing has been an encouraging sign. it has grown for four straight months. manufacturing is around 25% of the job losses so far. nonresidential construction is showing signs of life. that had been a consistent job loser. for the last two months, we've had job growth. there have been about 260,000

jobs added there. pefully, that is a turnaround in that industry. average weekly hours have risen. thiss an indicator that the labor market is tightening in improving, both in terms of the title -- tightening and improving, both in terms of the manufacturing processes. the increase in the labor force was a sharp increase. it is probably a sign of increasing confidence in the labor market by workers. i will pull out one more data point, which i think is particularly important to look at. the employment to population ratio. the basic logic here is, our jobs growing faster than the population is growing? it had only grown cigna valiantly -- it has been growing significantly alyear. i consider that to be a good sign. >> are there signs that any

additional sectors will start expanding in the near future? >> the fact that the job growth was widespread is a good sign. it means there is overall stngth. that is in correcting that the job growth will -- that is encouraging that the job growth will hopefully continue to be broad. the health services at the job that is an indicator of future job growth. the weekly hours worked continues to be a good sign. the weekly hours in construcon went up a good amount. that is a good sign in an industry that has borne the brunt of the job loss. >> are there for their -- are there more indicators that job gains will continue in the coming months? >> the encouraging thing here is that it is a trend. we have jobs -- we have had job growth for four months. the last two month it has been solid growth.

that is a good sign. >> i think the chart here -- we're not going to call a victory, but is certification -- it is certainly stepping in the right direction. when president bush took office, we lost jobs. in the last month that president obama took office -- when he took office in the last month of president bush's terms, we lost over 700,000 jobs. we have now put in place many programs that have moved us in the right direction. the chart is becoming a step chart, as we step up towards more job growth. it is not success, but trending in the right direction, as you aptly said, commission hall. thank you so much for your testimony. i now recognize mr. brady. >> thank you, madam chairman. i would just caution with the all-time record high of long- term unemployment, no one in

congress is raising an open " mission accomplished" banner just yet. there are 6000 -- hospitality, manufacturing, federal government, construction, mining employment, building services, temporary help workers, health care -- the federal government is hiring more than each of those sectors. how many federal government workers have been hired since december? do you know? >> i think i can pull that appear quickly. -- pull that up quickly here. >> i would like to know the comparison on the government side. >> let's see.

i have to do a really quick calculation on that. the last couple ofonths, we have added about 120,000 jobs. for the year so far, it has been 155,000 in the federal government. thank you. >> thank you very much. that, too, continues to outpace manufacturing, health caree and other sectors. at the initial unemployment claims have remained -- of the inial unemployment claims have remained stubbornly high -- the initial unemployment claims have remained stubbornly high. should we not expect themo slow down? >> historically, the unemployment claims -- they are more volatile, but they will track the payroll jobs pretty well. >> why is the number stating so

high, month after month? >> i am not sure it has been inconsistent wh the payroll job loss we have had. the job lo has been significant up until a few months ago. even as the -- >> even as the job recovery is painfully slow, it is headed in the right direction. should not those who are entering -- filinghose initial claims -- be decreasing? >> yes it should -- ye it should. >> does this reflect layoffs of workers to a managed to hold on to their jobs and are now being laid off for the first time? or does it include people who have been laid off before, found a job, and then were laid off again? >> i believe it is the latter, people who are being laid off again. they could have beenaid off before. >> on the census bureau, they expect to hire how many workers?

they have hired 100,000 and they expect to hire about 600,000? >> may be in excess of that. they may have as many as 900,000, even 1 million. >> that will boost the numbers for the next few months, and then decrease them later this summer. >> i believe that is right prictor temporary jobs. -- believe that is right. they are temporary jobs. he presented findingat a hearing based on unofficial be zero as -- bos data. i guess i am troubled by the thought that our main street, veus wall street, companies, are not hiring. they're n creating job openings. why is that? why are not small and medium businesses confident enough yet to hire?

>> i do not know. i do not have a good theory for that. >> but that is your data that he based his findings on? >> that is correct. >> small and medium business are not hiring at this ment. >> that is correct. >> thank you, commissioner. >> thank you very much. thank you, commissioner paul producing but explain why we add nearly -- thank you, commissioner -- commissioner hall. >> it is the number of people who are unemployed but actively looking for work. we did big increase in the number of pele actely looking for work. >> before, they were not even looking. they had just given up. is that how you see it? >> yes, at is correct.

>> you have told me before the changes in temporary employment are a sign of good things to come. what do those numbers look like now? >> we grew another 26,000 jobs in the temporary health. they are somewhere over -- there are somewhere over 300,000 jobs added in that industry since december. >> what about the people who are under-employed? they would like to be working full-time, but they are not. i am always struck by that. they have part-time work, but they're not where they used to be or where they want to be. >> we have a large number of people who are partime for economic reasons -- 9.1 million people. >> how has that changed over timm? can you measure if they want to work more, as opposed to doing it by choice? >> that one is hard for us to measure monthly. it is not a large sample.

i can tell you that our broadest measure of labor under utilization -- u6 -- people who are actively looking or people who are under-employ by being part time or who are discouraged, that increased as well. it went up about 2/10% -- 0.2% as well. >> one thing i have heard for recent graduates -- i got a letter from a woman who is from st. paul, minnesota, a college honors graduates -- monza she is stuck under a desk job and sinking under -- her mom told me she is stuck under a desk job and sinking under a pile of debt. what is happening to these young workers who marched recent college graduates? canyon -- who are recent college graduates? can you get that to me? >> we can get that to you. the numbers have not been

encouraging. the young graduates have more share of the brunt of this. we c get you more precise numbers. >> as we look at policies and what we can do to work with small businesses -- i am a big fan of doing more with exports and those kinds of things, to being private partners with industry -- the recent graduate issue is one we have talked about. we talked about the difference between some with a college degree, and mr. gregg, high school degree. do you have those numbers? have they changed? we have always been struck b the great difference between the unemployment rates with someone with a high school degree and someone with a college degree. >> those numbers are like they always are. >> can you go through them quickly so we're reminded of the shocking indifference? >> the unemployment rate for

those with less than a high school diploma was 14.7%. for those with a bachelor degree, it is 4.9%. it is almost 10 percennage point difference in the unemployment rate between the two groups. >> that ratio -- i was wondering as manufacturing and other tax increase -- you have still not seen any change. it contains to be the case at an advanced degree or college degree is one path to jobs. >> i would agree. it is hard to track the impact for manufacturing. >> how about the veteran employment numbers? soldiers that have returned in the last -- from the iraq and afghanistan wars? >> the goal for -- gulf war i is 13.3% -- it is significantly

higher. we have been -- >> we have been working on a bill r the spirit we want to provide more opportunities. it seems out -- on a bill for this. we want to provide more opportunities. it seems outrageous. what a you seeing across the cotry? you talk about the improvement in the diffusion rate, but how this has been a recession this time that is not just east coast or midwest. what are we seeing in regards to individual states who is still a top or the bottom? are there any trends by region? >> sure. the states witthe highest unemployment rate continued to be states that have had the highest rates for most of this recession. michigan topsail list at 14.1%. -- michigan tops the list at 14.1%. nevada, south carolina,

florida, the district of illinois -- the district of columbia, illinois -- thehave double dig unemployment. there are others, as well. there is no real regional pattern there. it does seem like states that have been harder hit than other states -- it is hard to see such a simple regional pattern or a simple pattern of any kind. >> one last thing. i will have to do a floor speech. i had a tourism subcommittee. you said there has been some increase in travel and leisure. >> yes. >> thank you. >> one more question and we will move on. >> the leisure and hospitality industry had a significant increase of 45,000 jobs. >> thank you, very good. >> mr. cummings.

>> thank you very much. i want to drill down on something miss klobuchar said. sometimes as i asitting here and watching the press, i can imagine them putting up a headline -- "the unemployment te has gone up 0.2%." people who came back into the system. is that right? >> that is correct. >> do you call those reentras? >> i talked about the increase in the labor force, which includes new and re-entrants. >> how many were there? >> about 800,000. >> that is a huge number. so, if we did not have these

reentrants and new entrants, you would have our rate tt would be lower than 9.7%. -- you would have a rate that would be lower than 9% -- 9.7%, is thacorrect? >> that is correct. >> i was listening very carefully to my good friend, mr. brady, who was talking about the govnment jobs. but then i looked and saw that manufacturing added 44,000 -- private jobs? >> they are. >> factory employment was up 1,000. with those beep private jobs? they are. >> construction. is that federal or private? 14,000 jobs is a lot of jobs. >> they are all private.

>> nonresidential andther mining -- private? >> yes. >> let me ask you this. it is my understanding that the gdp abt 60% to 70% is about peop spending money. is that, to your knowledge, accurate? >> yes, that is correct. >> when i look at manufacturing, 44,000 jobs, factory employment 101,000 jobs, construction -- somebody must be buying sething. is that lot -- is that a logical conclusion. -- is that allow the inclusi is that a logical conclusion? >> yes. >> let's go back to theensus jobs.

how many of these jobs are census jobs? the ones that had -- how many did we increase this month? >> 66,000. >> the total jobs that were picked up? >> 290,000. >> approximately 1/3 --bout 1/4 of them were for the census? >> yes. >> basically you are talking about a lot of other types of jobs coming to play. so, when the headlines are written, you have to take all of those kinds of things into consideration, would you not? >> yes. >> one thing that was very interesting is that my gd friend, mr. brady, talked about this the other day, the fact that -- a lot of times, small business were nottdoing as much hiring as we would like to see them do. one thing that htalked about

-- and it really makes these numbers even more interesting -- isn'a lot of small-business is not even able to get loans. -- is that all lot of small businesses are notven able to get loans. there are businesses who cannot even get lines of edit. they would not be able to do the contract. thconnected the credit, so therefore they're not able to do contrast -- whom they cannot get the credit, so therefore they are not able to do the contracts. it is a very signifint factor, when credit is a problem, we do not agree? >> yes. -- would you not agree? >> yes. >> i agree with miss " which are -- miss klobuchar that cannot conclude that everything is rosy and that you're still going in a positive direction.

is it an accurate statement? >> it is. >> thank you. >> thank you. i would like to go back to a point that was raised by my colleagues. it was raised by the chief economist at treasury who said that the rebound for the hiring was very uneven between the size of companies, between a large and small. from the bls data that you have, of the hiring patterns between large and small and -- are the hiring patterns different between large and small firms from the recession's you have seen? >> large firms experienced more jobs lost in the 2001 recession. they had job loss well into 2003. the last recession was centered in large firms.

the 1990 recession, itas the reverse. there were more net job losses in the small firms, rather than larger firms. it does ry. this recession, police threw the beginning of the recession, the job loss was -- at least through the beginning of the recession, the job loss was both in small and large firms. >> many people believe that small firms are unable to expand because of lack of capital. in your opinion, what are the reasons why small firms aren't hiring? >> i do not think i know enough about it to offer an opinion about that. i can tell you that collective small businesses had trouble getting loans, but -- i can tell you that, if small businesses had trouble getting loans, that would be a concern.

>> have you seen any change in the small and mid-sized firms in recent months? are they picking up some what now? >> the data at was discussed crow a littlbit -- discussed does show a little bit of a pickup in large firms, but not small and mid-sized firms. >> with mother's day just around the corner, it seems like a good time to ask you about mothers -- working women. it seems like they were hit in hard sectors, suffering siificant job losses. in recent months, these sectors have begun to recover and a workers. are women gaining jobs in those male-dominated stors? but not so much. they are underrepresented in those particular sectors. >> what has happened to employment in female-dominated secttrs in recent months, such

as education, local and federal states government work? >> the education sector did not experience the same amount of job loss, but the job growth has slowed in education. state and local garment have seen no job growth. >> what is the unemployment rate for working mothers? have working mothers -how have they done in this great recession, compared with other women? >> the unemployment rate f working mothers is 8.3%. that is an increase from 3.7 percentage points during the recession. that is actually fairly comparable to women who are not mothers. their unemployme rate is about 8%. the more shocking number is probably the actual job loss.

we have some issues with labor force participation. working mothers have lost about 6.1% of their jobs during this recession, compared to women who are not mothers who actually lost 0.1 percentage points -- essentially no job loss. >> is it diffent for working mothers who are sole breadwinners for their families? and i guess, actually, that is much higher. it is 13.6%. >> how have minority working mothers cared? >> that one has also been much higher. african american -- 13.4%. hispanic working mothers, 11.8%. both higher. >> given the economic challenges facing families during this recession, have more mothers enter the workforce and searched for work. -- and searched for work? >> the answer is yes. labor force participationas

gonn down during the recession. it has actually gone up for women with children -- foremothers. >> how has the experience of working mothers compared to prior recessions? >> in prior recessions, working mothers have had a higher than average increase in their unemployment rate. in the 1990 recession, the unemployment rate increased by 1.6 percentage points, comred to 1.3 percentage at " for women without children. -- percentage point foa woman without children. this time, it is almost double that. >> my time has expired. mr. brady. >> thankou, madam chairman. normally, america bounces back quickly. it is not happening this time.

we do not have a v-shaped recovery. it is a very gradual recovery. it is a third as low as that 1981 and 1982 recovery. i'm convinced it is partly because businesses do not have the confidence to make investments. there are anxious to get back onheir feet. -- they are anxious to get back on their feet. i know wlike to be our chests and proclaim our programs that have spurred the economy. when i run our programs passed a small businesses in southeast texas, they say the gimmicks to not work, the smallnducements -- i will not bring on workers until i see the customers and clients. retail is moving a little, but not much. it added 12,000 jobs last month. there are 15 million people

unemployed. is just a bit to eat. -- it is just a blip on the screen. people are ccerned about their own jobs and by the financial crisis here in america. with our budget, there are very concerned. everll shows that americans are increasingly concerned that this runawaypending, the dangerous levels of debt, will hold back economic growth. i was looking at the numbers. greece was so in the news yesterday. the news continues to be -- you can see people gathered around the tv set ask -- tv set watching what was going on. if you look at countries that are the most troubled and their deficits, the most troubled countries have defics between 4.1%, the lowest is in italy, and over 16% in greece.

america will be toward the hig end of that at 10% annual debt for this year. if you look at the growth of the central government debt, again, the five p.i.i.g. countries -- they allow government range of 45% to 125%. we are already in the middle of that at 60%. the cbo says if we adopt a budget, we will be at 90% of our gdp by the end of this decade. we will be toward that high-end of the troubled, financially- suspect countries in eure that are causing trading panic and riots in the street, which is not going to happen here, by the way. it is a real concern everywhere i go back home.

average people are not just worried about their checkbook. there are worried about america's checkbook. in your household survey, seeing that retail, which is the best sign of what they're doing is again painfully slow on the uptick, do you measure consumer confidence? are there other indicators within your numbers th tell us what people are doing? it seems to me they areolding tight. they're worried about their jobs. we do not see that bounceback that normally would after this kind of recession. >> our data is a step removed from actual consumer confidence. we're lking at employment levels. we're looking at for reactions to things. what do you see on the auto

side? cash for clunkers accelerated some spending and it has now gone back to a more normal pect. what do you say on that side, for example? >> in motor vehicle production, we have modest growth of about 4000 jobs. in the automobile dealers retailing, we addeabout 2000 jobs for the month. >> pretty flat. >> it has not been strong, but modest. >> are there any other retail indicators? >> just the retail trade ishe most directly connected to something like consumer spending. >> in past recoveries and recessions, what have you seen in retail? what types of growth month- over-month would we be expecting to see? >> i do not know with respect to employment. i do not know what that is going to look like. i can tell you a little bit

about what i know about other data. consumer spending and gdp over the long-run will sort of trapped together. in the short term, they do not necessarily do that. gdp does rely very much on consumer spending. >> on 3 of it. i'm out of time. i do apologize will that change ovetime will we be less consumer- dependent when we reach a full recovery? >> that is an interesting question about this recession. consumer spending was not always that large a percentage of gdp. >> thank you. >>hank you, mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, madam chair. mr. hall -- we have the summer months coming up. we have young people graduating. -- graduating from college and high school. tell me, what is the

unemployment ratfor our teens -- the teen unemployment rate? i would like to know what it is for african-americans, white and hispanics. ok. >> the unemployment rate for teenagers is very high -- 25%. >> do you have a breakdown for african-americans, whites, and hispanics? would you have that? and i do not for teenagers. i have those groups overall. we can get to the teenager ones. do you want me to tell you the unemployment rate for african- americans? 16.5%. >> is that pretty much what it was last time? >> it is unchanged over the last

month. four respects, iis 12.5%, also little changed. -- for hispanics, it is 12.5%, also little changed. >> for african-american teenagers, the rate was 37.3%. that is a little lower than it has been in recent months. that is a small group. it really jumps around from month to month. the white rate is 23.5% from a fairly stable in the recent months. is 23 -- the white rate is 23.5%, fairly stable in the recent months. >> i take it that is pretty high to what he might consider a pretty -- what you might consider pretty stable economic situation.

>> that is correct. >> i want to go back to the reentrants and new folks. that will temper any dent we can make in the unemployment rate. . >> how do you know they are looking? >> we actually conduct a household survey. do a telephone survey of households and ask people, essentially.

>> 7 commons -- so, what kind of increase can we expect in the labour force? this is kind of a tough situation. as the economy get better, i would imagine people lookp there and say, you know what, i have been unempled for a while, but now i am going to get back out tre, because i think i have a chance to get a job. so the entrance will continue to increase. i have not even counted the new people like the folks coming out of college right now. so, we have a steady increase if the economy get better. is that a reasonable assumption? >> do you mean the increase in the unemployment rate? >> right, right. in oer words, you have more people to deal with, because you

have more people looking. >> isot at all uncommon in the early stages of a recovery to add jobs and have the unemployment rate go up because people are re-entering the labour force, as you said. >> said you cannot anticipate what might hapn, as you just said. >> can you estimate how many expect to retn? >> sure. >> does historic data suggest anything with regard to that? >> it is actually one of the reasons why i pointed out the employment to population ratio. that cuts through whether people are looking or not it is how many people are employed versus how many people live in the country.

that is sort of a nice w of cutting through all of that. we have had a significant drop in the employmento population ratio. in this recession, it has dropped 3.9 points. that is pretty significant. this last year, it increased 0.6 points, which is a sign of recovery. >> thank you very much. this is good news today. this is the second positive amount of employment gain. after weathering the hsh storms of to the 9 and 2008, it good to see some rays of -- of 2009 and 2008, it is good to see some rays of sunshine. we're not out of the woods, but we are glad to see some progress. we will continue working on policies that will help to

create jobs so that we can continue this progress. we press is very much, commissioner, for your testament -- we thank you very much, commissioner, for your testimony today. we are adjourned. thank you. [no audio]

>> from the first days of the sequestration, we have the worst economic crisis since the great depression, the truest member of progress is whether or not we will create jobs. that is what matters in people's lives. it matters whether someone who needs a job can find one and that people can provide for their families to save for the future and achieve some measure of economic security.

everything we have done has been with this goal in my prayer today, i am happy to report we have received encouraging news. in april, the economy added 290,000 jobs. the vast majority, 230,000, coming from the private sector. this is the largest monthly increase in four years. we created 121,000 jobs in february and march which means we now have seen job growth for four months and a row. these numbers are harkening when you consider where we were one year ago. at the height of the downturn, we were losing an average of 750,000 jobs per month. this news comes on the heels of a job last week that the overall output of the economy, gdp, is increasing. the economy has been growing for the better part of a year. steady growth is starting to

give business the confidencc to expand and hire new people. we should note that the unemployment level kicked up slightly. this may seem contradictory but this increase is largely a reflection of the fact that workers who had dropped out of the work force entirely are now seeking jobs again. they are encouraged by prospects. the economic crisis we face has inflicted a lot of damage and families and businesses across our country and it will take time to repair and rebuild. more than 8 million jobs were lost over the course of this recession. there are many people out there who are still experiencing real hardship. today's job numbers leave us with a lot of work to do. it will take time to achieve the strong and sustained job growth that is necessary. long before this recession hit,

middle-class families have been experiencing a sense of declining economic security. we have a ways to go. we also, very long way. the steps we have taken over the past year are making a difference. productivity is up, the hours people are working are up, both are signs that a company may be hiring more workers in the months to come. use of the largest increase in manufacturing employment since 1998. we can see the benefits of our recovery act and the strong employment report in other sectors where it made key investmeets in saving jobs. there are limits to what the government can do. the true engine of job growth in this country will always be the private sector. that is why we are pleased to see the strong growth and the private sector is what government can do is create the

conditions for companies to hire again. it can build the infrastructure and offer incentives that will allow small businesses to add workers and help entrepreneurs take a chance on an idea that will lead manufacturers to set up shop not overseas but right here in the united states of america. that is what we have been doing. the series of tax incentives and other things are taking affect because of a bill i signed into law a few years ago. companies are able to write off more of their investment in new equipment while spurring additional investment in clean energy projects and road construction. this will create jobs while laying a new foundation. in addition, as part of health reform, 4 million small businesses recently received a postcard in their mailbox telling them that they are eligible for a health care tax credit this year. it could be worth tens of

thousands of dollars. it will provide welcome relief to small business owners who have to choose between health care and hiring. that is what has already, but we still have more to do. i called for a $30 billion small-business lending fund that would help increase credit for small companies hit hard by this tough time in lending that followed the financial crisis. this morning, we sent a draft legislation to congress on this which now includes the new state small credit -- small-business credit administration. members of the house and senate will help expand lending to small businesses. in addition, the state and local governments face huge budget gaps. we are seeing layoffs of teachers, police officers,

firefighters and other essential public service which not only harms the economy but also the community and the economy as a whole. we're working with congress to find ways to keep our teachers in classrooms, police officers on the beat, and firefighters on call. a few months ago, i proposed giving people upgrades -- giving tax breaks for green upgrades in their homes. it includes things like windows and insulation. there was a bipartisan vote that passed this proposal in the house of representatives yesterday. i am calling on the senate to act as well. congress should expend of the clean energy bill. even as we take the steps, increased hiring is difficult

but we are mindful of other economic factors that can emerge. let me speak to the unusual market activity that took place on wall street yesterday. regulatory authorities are evaluating this closely. there is a concern for protecting investors and preventing this from happening again. they will make findings of their review public along with recommendations for protection. i spoke this morning with the german chancellor, angela merkel. we agreed on the importance of a strong policy response by the affected countries and the strong financial respoose from the financial community. the united states supports these efforts and we will continue to cooperate with european authorities and the imf during these critical days. the job numbers this week offers little comfort to those still out of work. those who are out there still

looking, i give you my word, i will keep fighting every single day to create jobs and opportunities for people. every one of my team standing by me here as the same sense of mission. we will not rest until we put this difficult chapter behind this and i will not rest until you and billions of your neighbors are able to find a good job and reach a brighter day. thank you very much, everybody. >> have you made a decision on the supreme court? [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

>> midterm elections are six months away and could change the balance of power in washington for it was the candidate debates that have already taken place and key house, senate, and governor races across the country on line at the new cspan video library. it is all free. >> u.s. representative ed markey led a delegation to the louisiana area to look at the oil spill in mexico and -- in the gulf of mexico and the cleanup efforts under way. he would form a commission to study the effect on the region. after meeting with residents, coastguard and others, he held a 10 minute news conference in louisiana. >> thank you all for being here.

this is part of my district. this is part of a congressional delegation that came here to be briefed. we flew over the spill area and the site where the boats are working very of. i will introduce you to congressman ed markey of massachusetts. he is the chairman of energy in the house of representatives. >> thank you. charlie wanted us to come down here to see what is going on. it will help us determine what we can do to help him and to help all the people down here in the gulf region. what we saw this morning gave us reason to be hopeful. it is obvious now that they are

in the process of trying to put a dome over the major leak. we all have our fingers crossed with. are praying for success. we want to see what was going on with how they aggregate oil so they can remove some of this oil from potentially catastrophic conditions being created. the trip here as the very worthwhile for our committee. i think it will give this a real sense of what is going on here and what needs to be done and it was combined with a visit to be able to talk to the coast guard and bp officials who are in a

command center and are working to bring this catastrophic event to a close as quickly as possible. we know that the more oil that stays in the ground, the lower it is, the higher our hopes could become. that is what is happening here today. we are cautiously optimistic but we are cognizant of the technological difficulties that are still going to be confronted by all of the communities along the gulf coast in their efforts to deal with this. long term, our continuing environmental disaster goes on. we have a distinguished delegation with us today. let me introduce you to congressman burgess. >> i am the ranking republican on the committee of oversight

regulations. i took away the magnitude of the problem that faces the people on the ground, flying over this bill. there is no way you can capture that from a newspaper article or a picture of a magazine. there's also a degree of cooperation that is occurring between the coast guard and bp at the unified command center. we have all heard stories but i was impressed today with level of cooperation and the degree of candor, the anecdotal stories we have heard about the facility with which things get done. there doesn't seem to be a expect with an operation this large. our job is to make sure the men and women fighting on our behalf for this effort have everything

they need in a timely fashion and there will be plenty of time for hearings as to what caused the disaster. >> we also have congressman peter welcsh. >> congressman markey and burgess have aptly described the coroneted efforts being so -- being pursued here. there will be a lot of hard a cure for folks in the oil industry and folks in the fishing industry. that is life in the gulf coast. we have to be here for those folks so they can put their livelihoods back together as soon as possible. there is immediate work that needs to be done.

there will be were to be done in the future to help folks get back to the fishing boats and help folks get back to their jobs and livelihoods. thank you for green that to the attention of others. >> are there any questions? >> obviously, going forward, we will have to.+ú# establish whatt wrong, why it went wrong, and obviously bp will have to shoulder much of the responsibility for what happened. there are other parties involved but bp was the overarching corporate entity that had given assurances that an accident of this magnitude would not happen. if there was an accident, it

should never have reached this magnitude. i think we are impressed with the level of cooperation that is going on to deal with the consequences of this catastrophe. there will still have to be an assessment made of culpability and responsibility for what went wrong. bp seems to be at the top of that list. >> part of our job will be to ensure that all parties involved are participants in the hearings we have. bp has significant culpability. federal agencies were responsible for the inspections that occurred. they have some questions to answer, as well we need to be fair minded about this and thorough. people in this area deserve answers. we need to get them in a timely fashion. >> one of the things i have told

people is that when you look at the exxon valdez in alaska, instead of saying that they would not halt oil by ships and more, they analyze the problem and move forward for you to -- you do not shut down oil and gas without trying to figure out what it is we need to do and do a better so that going forward, we should not have to expect this to ever happen again. that can be done. %hqpwe want to make sure that management is doing what it is post doing and not just allowing things to move forward with a wink and a nod and making sure the oil companies have a responsibility and obligation to do it safely for their employees and the environment they are operating in. that is what i hope we will get

done starting with hearings next week. >> we will begin a comprehensive set of hearings beginning next week. we intend on ensuring that the american paul -- public and those who live in the gulf know everything that happened. they need to know what happened in the future. lives have been lost. laws have been ruined. -- lives have been ruined. we have a responsibility to make sure this never happens again. our hearts go out to people whose livelihoods are being harmed by this. the lessons that will be learned will become laws so that no one else ever has to endure what has occurred down here right now down here in the gulf region. >